1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cooking appliances and more particularly pertains to a new electric grilling appliance for cooking food cleanly and effectively with a minimum of smoke generation that permits the use of the appliance in enclosed spaces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Grilling is a highly desirable way of cooking food as grilling imparts a unique taste and health benefits to the food that are difficult to achieve with other methods of food preparation. However, grilling has traditionally been performed with fire to achieve the desired grilled food flavor, but the use of fire has a number of fairly evident drawbacks, including, but not limited to, the presence of an open flame, the large amount of heat that is generated and creates high temperatures (that is dissipated into the immediate environment), and the smoke that results when juices from the food come into contact with the flame or the heated surfaces of the grill apparatus. These factors can also apply to known electric grilling apparatus, and have made grilling a decidedly warm weather, out-of-doors activity that is limited by the presence of cold weather or precipitation, and for apartment or dormitory dwellers, the lack of an out-of-doors space where a grilling apparatus may be set up.
While some indoor grilling apparatus, such as those sold under the GEORGE FOREMAN trademark, have become popular, these types of grilling apparatus generally have an open character that releases a large amount of heat into the immediate environment of the grilling apparatus and exposes hot surfaces to the user and those around the user during the cooking process. Further, the direct contact between the grilling surfaces and the food being grilled can require a significant amount of clean up. Further, if a number of different food items are being grilled on the grilling apparatus at the same time, the flavors of the food can transfer between the foods, which sometimes is desirable but in many cases is to be avoided.
In these respects, the electric grilling appliance according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of cooking food cleanly and effectively with a minimum of smoke generation that permits the use of the appliance in enclosed spaces.